Selling Internationally

Even though most U.S. sellers sell to U.S. buyers (and most Irish sellers sell to Irish buyers, and most Japanese sellers sell to Japanese buyers, and so on), eBay is a global marketplace. This is a good thing because it significantly broadens the market for whatever it is you're selling. The more potential bidders you have, wherever they live, the more likely you'll be to sell your itemand command a higher price. Besides, it can be a lot of fun to deal with people in different countries and cultures.

Pros and Cons of International Selling

That said, not every seller opts to offer goods outside the U.S. That's because international selling is somewhat more complex than selling domestically. You have to balance the pros and cons to determine if you want to limit your sales to U.S. buyers only or take advantage of eBay's global marketplace.

The pros of opening your auctions to non-U.S. bidders include the following:

• You might be able to attract additional biddersand thus sell more items at (presumably) higher prices.

• You can offset some of the seasonality of the U.S. market; when it's winter here, you can still be selling swimsuits to the summer market in Australia.

• It's fun (sometimes) to interact with people from different countries and cultures.

The cons of selling outside the U.S. include the following:

• You might run into language difficulties communicating with bidders from outside the United States.

• You might have to deal with payment in non-U.S. funds, on non-U.S. banks.

• Unless the buyer pays via PayPal, you'll have to wait longer to receive payment from another country.

• You'll have to put extra effort into the packing of an item to be shipped over great distances.

• You probably won't be able to use your standard shipping serviceswhich means investigating new shipping services and options, and upsetting your normal well-oiled shipping routine.

• You'll need to deal with the appropriate paperwork for shipping outside the U.S.including those pesky customs forms.

• If there are any problems or disputes with the item shipped, you have an international-sized incident on your hands.

You'll have to determine for yourself whether the pros (increased sales and higher prices) outweigh the cons (more work and increased complexity).

Accepting Foreign Payments

One of the key issues with selling outside the U.S. is in dealing with foreign currency. First, you have to convert it to U.S. dollars. (How many lira to the dollar today?) Then you have to receive it in a form that is both secure and trusted. (Do you trust a personal check drawn on a small Spanish bank?) Then you have to find a way to deposit those fundsand convert them to U.S. dollars. (Does your bank handle foreign deposits?)

Note

When you need to convert foreign funds, use the Universal Currency Converter (www.xe.net/ucc/).

Note

Issues related to shipping internationally are discussed in Chapter 17, "Organizing Your Packing and Shipping."

The currency issue is simplified somewhat when you specify bidding and payment in U.S. funds only. This puts the onus of currency conversion on the buyer, which is a plus.

The payment process can be further simplified when the buyer pays by credit card, using PayPal or BidPay. For example, PayPal is now active in more than 55 countries and can handle all the payment, conversion, and deposit functions for you.

Payment via international money order is also a good option. Be sure to specify that you need funds in U.S. dollars, and most U.S. banks (as well as your local post office) should be able to cash one of these money orders with little or no hassle.